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| Sunday, 9 June 2002 |
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Philippines to "destroy" rebels after hostage deaths SIRAWAY, Philippines/WASHINGTON, June 8 (Reuters) - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Saturday ordered "search and destroy" operations against Muslim guerrillas, a day after a military rescue attempt that ended in the deaths of two of the rebels' hostages and the rescue of a third. American missionary Martin Burnham, 42, was killed and his wife Gracia, 43, was wounded but rescued, when Philippine troops trained by the United States clashed on Friday with the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas in jungle on southern Mindanao island. Filipina nurse Deborah Yap, another hostage, was also killed in the clash. "The president has issued clear orders. The military is now carrying out search and destroy operations versus the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas," National Security Adviser Roilo Golez told a local radio station. Gracia Burnham was flown to Manila from a military base in Zamboanga late on Friday. She is believed to be under treatment for a bullet wound to her leg. Medical staff at the hospital in Zamboanga said Burnham could not walk but was well enough to move around in a wheelchair. She had expressed happiness to be out of the jungle, where she had always been hungry during more than a year of captivity, the medical staff said. Fresh Filipino troops have been sent into Zamboanga del Norte province on Mindanao where government forces said they were pursuing about 40 members of the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas -- a rebel group linked to the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the September 11 attacks on the United States. Military officials said they believed the group's leaders were among the fleeing rebels. Efforts to free the hostages had been concentrated on the island of Basilan, the headquarters of Abu Sayyaf and where around 1,000 U.S. troops have been training the Philippine army in counter-terrorism. However Philippine officials said they received information about a month ago that the hostages may have been moved to much larger Mindanao, and they began a secret operation there. FAMILY WANTS REBELS ELIMINATED The grieving Kansas family of Martin Burnham urged the Philippine government to wipe out the rebels who held them hostage in the wilderness for one year and 11 days. "We would like to see the military continue and take care of this Abu Sayyaf group," said Paul Burnham, Martin's father. "This is a terrorist group that has been hurting the Philippine people for a long time...we hope they will be able to eradicate this kidnap-for-ransom gang and take care of many of the problems." U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday said Philippine President Arroyo told him the Philippines would hold the rebels accountable and that justice would be done. No gunshots were heard on Saturday as military helicopters ferried equipment into the search area on Mindanao. Reporters on board the copters saw Filipino soldiers flashing victory signs from the ground. Residents in neighbouring villages were reportedly evacuating from the area where the gunbattle took place, fearing the rebels would try to take fresh hostages. QUESTIONS REMAIN Officials said they were still verifying whether the two hostages were killed by their captors or in cross-fire in which four rebels died and at least seven soldiers were wounded. "Probably they were caught in the cross-fire but as to who squeezed the trigger first that's what we don't know," military spokesman Brigadier General Eduardo Purificacion said. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the U.S.-backed rescue attempt was "understandable" despite Martin's death. "The Burnhams have not been well and they lived in captivity a long time, and it seems to me that the attempt to save their lives was understandable," Rumsfeld said in Washington. "Every hostage situation is a dangerous situation and I have no more facts than you do at the moment." Local media said the Philippine army now had a free arm to pursue the rebels. "Before the raid government troops could say they could not move in to 'annihilate' and 'crush' the Abu Sayyaf -- as promised repeatedly by their commander-in-chief -- because they did not want to put the hostages in harm's way," The Philippine Star newspaper said in an editorial. The American missionary couple, who lived in the Philippines since 1986, were abducted by the guerrillas on May 27, 2001 -- a day after they went to a beach resort off Palawan island to celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary. The Burnhams were the longest-held foreign captives in the Philippines since Muslim separatists began seizing hostages in the 1970s. The rebels say they are fighting for an Islamic state in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines, but their main activity has been taking hostages for ransom. (With additional reporting by Jim Wolf in Washington) |
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